She was the founding editor[1][2] of the literary journal The Caribbean Writer in 1986 and has published critical works on Caribbean literature and on women's literature, notably on writers including Caryl Phillips,[3] Una Marson[4][5] and Jean Rhys.
[6] She was born in Alexandria, Virginia, when her mother was working at the Pentagon.
She began teaching at the University of the Virgin Islands (St. Croix) in the early 1970s and is professor emeritus of English there, having been studying and writing on Caribbean literature for over 30 years.
Her essays, interviews, and reviews have been published in various academic journals, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, World Literature Today and The Women's Review of Books.
She taught part-time at the University of Southern Maine for a decade, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Finland.